


Many Moons

by jat_sapphire



Series: Dirty Computer [1]
Category: The Professionals
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Halloween, Horror, M/M, POV William Bodie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-11
Updated: 2018-10-11
Packaged: 2019-07-29 13:49:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16265489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jat_sapphire/pseuds/jat_sapphire
Summary: "Why would they do that? Program us to ... wonder?"





	Many Moons

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from Janelle Monàe's song from _Metropolis, Suite I: The Chase_

"Do you ever wonder?" Doyle's voice, in the dark, sounded the same as usual.  "What we were like?  When we ... were meat?"

"All the time." Bodie's was different, when he spoke to Doyle alone. He felt it change.

"Why would they do that? Program us to ... wonder?"

Bodie shifted weight from one foot to the other as he thought.  The two of them were standing side by side in a storage area to recharge and update.  

"You know Mr Cowley doesn't like to give us much information."

"Oh, I know _that_." Doyle's frustration was clear.

Bodie smiled, unseen. The downloaded operating manual said that the transfer of their neural energy patterns to their android brains did not include emotion. Bodie wondered how the programmers knew. He couldn't tell the difference, even comparing present reactions to remembered ones.  

"But we need to decide what to do," he continued, "even without all the information, choose and plan, even guess. I think we need the skill of wondering to perform well."

"Yes, I see that."  

"I know you're different, though."

"How?"

"You don't get as upset."  Bodie knew he hadn’t explained clearly.  His memories of the original Doyle had inconsistencies.  He should have asked Dr Ross for reprogramming when he had first noticed, but he had remained silent because he ... liked them.  He often thought of the way Doyle had leaned against walls and furniture, the way his face used to change so much more fluidly, the way his voice sometimes rose to a shout, the way he suddenly smiled or laughed.

"There's something I remember," Doyle said. "I was yelling at Mr Cowley."  He paused. "Fancy that, eh?"

"I can't," Bodie replied, smiling again.  "Earth must've moved. How'd I miss it?"

"You were in hospital."  Said lightly, it was repeated in a lower, grimmer tone. "You were in hospital. He wanted me to stand down. Couldn't do that, could I?"

Bodie remembered himself yelling, too.  It had rushed out, strong in his chest and throat.  He'd felt bigger, as if anger held him up, but there'd been an awful draining sensation, too—fear.  He was glad not to feel like that any more. Wasn't he?  What had that been about?  What had he said—to whom? His memory said “Cowley,” but the person he called “Mr Cowley” now didn't look the same.

He’d shouted, “If you want my resignation, just ask for it!”  And he'd been thinking ... he'd imagined ... Doyle. Hanging by his thumbs.

"You're all right, aren't you?" he asked.

"Course I am. My battery was down, but I'm almost recharged now. Why?"

"I ... I don't know, do I? Of course you're all right."

"You, are you all right?"

"Yes."  But was he?  "You brought it up. Wondering. I remember how you looked and sounded. But not, um." What he'd almost said wasn't what meat people said, though they all had five senses, not just two.  

"I touched your hair." Doyle's voice had changed after all.

"I ... touched ... tasted ..." 

Usually updates ran in the background, and they could have a conversation or move a little. This one restarted Bodie, plunging him into blackness.

"Bod—" was the last sense perception he had.


End file.
